An Amazing Transformation

Back in 2007, when actress Cheryl Hines helped raise $60,000 to renovate a Compton, Calif., grade school, she also dreamed up a reality show: School Pride, which debuts Oct. 15. "We don't just want to rebuild a school and leave," says producer Hines. "We want the community to take ownership." First up for a weeklong renovation: Compton's 69-year-old Enterprise Middle School (below). Formerly a graffiti-covered building with unusable bathrooms, it now boasts an emerald-green overcoat, new classrooms, a gym, and science and computer labs. PEOPLE magazine contributed a colorful reading room (above) filled with Time Inc. titles and tomes by Shakespeare, Dickens and Melville. "It's cool," says Enterprise eighth grader James Price, 14. "And the kids care about school now; they didn't before."